Shipwrecked on Dragon's Edge
by TerraRini
Summary: Shipwrecked, a girl recovers on Dragon's Edge with the help of the Dragonriders of Berk. Will she stay, and find a dragon of her own, or will she continue on to her original destination? I don't own Berk, Dragon's Edge, etc. Just Lissah, and her story.
1. Chapter 1

The crash of waves on the rocky coast roared in her ears when she first regained consciousness. She coughed, hacking out some of the salty water she had swallowed before blacking out. When she first lifted her body off the sand, she yelped, the pain of her throbbing, probably broken ankle catching her by surprise.

 _Must've hurt it when the wooden door I was floating on hit that cluster of rocks…_ She thought as she slid her leg forward to examine the damage. Her ankle was a rather nasty shade of purple, and swollen, but did not appear to be bent at any odd angle. _Perhaps only sprained, or...fractured._ She amended, looking around for the door she'd been laying on, hoping the bundle she had tied to it remained attached.

The splinters of wood cast about her on the sand dashed that hope though, so she looked instead for a stick she could use to support her weight. About twenty feet away lay a long straight limb. _Perfect._ She thought, and tried to stand up so she could hop to it.

Her good leg wobbled beneath the weight as sand fell away from her, and she lost her balance, landing on her knees in the sand once again. _Okay, maybe crawling would be better._ She thought. She continued forward on her hands and knees, trying to be careful not to bump her swollen ankle as she moved, until she could reach the branch.

When she did, she discovered that it was the perfect height, and had a split at just the right height to put under her arm. She lifted herself once again and pushed the split of the limb into her arm pit, and leaned on it. Although it shifted in the sand, it was sturdy enough to support her. _I'll just have to go slow._ She thought as she turned to look at the water's edge. _Wonder if anything else washed up with me…._ She trailed off. _Or anyone else._ She added as an afterthought.

Nothing caught her eye, though, so she looked back toward the forest behind her. There appeared to be animal trails, and she could hear the squawk of some large sounding bird, and the twitter of smaller ones. She needed fresh water, food, and shelter from the frequent storms of this time of year.

 _I wonder if anyone lives on this hunk of rock._ She thought. To either side of the forest were tall cliffs- she had been lucky to land where she did. Anywhere else and it looked like she would have been dashed against solid rock. She started to hobble inland, away from the shore in hopes of finding fresh water.

The further she travelled, the more her ankle hurt. After an hour of trying to walk inland, she'd made very little distance and her ankle was twice the size it had been when she woke. She had not found fresh water, but had managed to find a small cave. The cave was big enough for her to walk five paces across, and twice as tall as her, and about ten paces deep. Big enough to be comfortable.

There was some evidence of an animal having lived here recently, and she hoped it did not still, because the evidence was bones that had been picked clean. She could hear the dripping of water nearby, but could not find any puddles where it would have collected. By the time she reached the shelter of the cave, wind was starting to push against her, and she was getting cold. Soon, rain would beat down, and she was happy enough with the shelter. She wondered what she could use to catch the rain water for drinking. She looked around and some large leaves with smooth edges.

Thinking quickly she sat on the ground outside the cave and began digging with the end of her stick, until she had a depression big enough to hold a good amount of water, and lined it with the large leaves, overlapping them with multiple layers, and hoping they would provide enough of a barrier to hold the water until she could drink some.

That done, she went into the cave and lay down against the back wall, farthest from the wind and rain that would soon be howling and drumming outside. Huddled there, she fell into an exhausted slumber.

There were shouts from outside the cabin that woke Lissah as she was tossed from the soft mattress onto the rolling floor. "Papa!?" She hollered as she fumbled to her feet and worked her way toward the door. "Papa!?" She called again out the door and up the stairs as she heard the call for "all hands on deck!" and stepped back to allow the handful of rough looking seamen rush passed. She was thirteen, and she and her father were sailing to new land, hoping for a new beginning, away from the death and destruction of the war they had left behind.

When she reached the deck after the sailors, she searched for her father's scruffy face. Just as she found his frightened eyes in the crowd of men trying to raise sails and secure the deck against the storm, there was a sudden lurch, and everyone was knocked off their feet, including Lissah. A crack and an ear splitting roar, and she heard her father calling her name as the deck beneath their feat split apart. "Papaaaaa!" Lissah cried out before she felt his arms around her. Before she could hug him, the deck fell beneath them, and they were thrown into tossing water. She clung to him, terrified.

Water pulled them away from the ship as it began to sink, and her father swam with the pull of the water, knowing that those next to the ship would go down with it. He held her up as best he could above the tossing waves, until nothing could be seen of the vessel that had carried them this far. The water was cold. She shivered as her father pulled her along. "Liss, swim!" He yelled, but it sounded as if he was far away, as if they were in separate worlds.

She felt him push something against her. "Climb on, Lissah." He ordered, and she found herself clinging to most of a cabin door, a solid hunk of wood oiled and sealed against moisture. He clung to the handle as waves churned them up and down. She closed her eyes, too cold and tired to fight the sapping of her strength, and when she opened them, he was gone.

"Papa!" She called out to him. "Papaaaa!"

Suddenly she was huddled against the cold stone of the cave once more, and shafts of light spilled in through the opening around a shadowed mass.

She blinked rapidly to clear the sleep from her eyes, trying to focus on the figure that stood between her and the opening of the cave.

She heard a hiss, and the click-clack of nails on the stone floor before her eyes focused. Finally, she was able to make out the scaly skin of the creature, and pointy things that seemed to come out from the lizard-like head. Sharp claws reflected the light from the opening, and steam seemed to puff from the creature's mouth.


	2. Chapter 2

She was about to scream in terror, when she heard "What'd you find in there, buddy?"

 _Huh?_

A young man, several years older than her, walked into the opening of the cave. "Toothless?" He asked, pushing the giant lizard away from whatever he had cornered in the dark of the cave.

"Who are you?" He asked Lissah as she huddled as close to the cave wall as she could. He pushed the creature behind him.

"L-L-Lissah…" She replied, staying where she was, and eyeing both of them warily. She didn't know how they found her. She didn't know if he was going to feed her to his lizard, or try to eat her himself….

He held his hand up in an attempt to show he meant no harm. "Hiccup."

"Excuse me?" She said, startled.

"My name is Hiccup. This is my dragon, Toothless."

"Oh." She replied. _What kind of name is Hiccup?_ She thought. _Or…Toothless?_

He shrugged. "Toothless was acting funny, seemed to think we needed to drop sixty dragon-lengths to bottom of this corner of the cliffs. I didn't have much choice but to hold on." He went to step back, and she heard a clink, instead of the soft shuffle of leather boot that she expected on the stone floor. She looked down to see the source of the noise- a metal foot? Only, it looked more like a flat hook.

He followed her eyes down, and shrugged again. "Lost the foot in a fight with a bigger dragon." He commented. "Want to come out of here…we've got some food back at our place?

Lissah watched as he walked backwards away from her and toward the cave opening. Toothless bounded out into the sunlight. She shifted away from the wall so she could stand up, only to cry out in pain as she put weight on her forgotten injured ankle.

Before she could fall, Toothless had bounded past Hiccup, and landed under her, keeping her upright. She continued to lean on the dragon, her face pressed against the spicy scales of his foreleg. _Thank him.._ "Thank you, Toothless." She said, shifting her weight to the uninjured foot.

"You're injured. Why didn't you say so?" Hiccup asked from the opening, as Toothless led the girl out into the sun.

She blinked in the light, and pulled the walking stick up under her arm as Toothless walked to Hiccup, rubbed himself around his friend, then came back to her, as if making sure she could walk on her own now. "I'd forgotten…"

"Where'd you come from?"

"It doesn't matter…everyone I knew is…gone.." _Dead. Mum, Sissy, Papa. Dead._ "I was shipwrecked. I managed to hold on to some wood from the ship, and must've floated here after I lost consciousness…Last thing I remember is floating at sea…"

"Where were you going?" Hiccup asked, admiring her water bowl which still contained water from yesterday's rain.

"I don't know. Papa said it was a new land…that no one lived there yet, and we were going to help make a new settlement. Away from the war."

"Oh." Hiccup nodded understandingly. "If you are ready, I can take you back to our place, the others might like to meet you."

"Others?"

"Yeah, the other dragon-riders, my friends… we have our own outpost here, sort of a stopover on our travels away from Berk."

"Berk?" _What is he talking about?_

"Yeah, Berk, our home." He walked up to Toothless's side, and held his hand out to her. "I'll tell you all about it, but we have another storm due, and I'd rather we were under shelter before it hits. According to the dragons, it's going to be a big one…"

She put her hand in his, and he helped her to climb onto Toothless's back. She shook fearfully as he climbed up in front of her. _What am I doing?_ She thought.

"Hold on." Hiccup said, as Toothless bounded forward into an opening and spread his wings out wide to either side of them. Suddenly they were rocketing into the air, powerful wings pushing them higher. She couldn't see it, because her face was buried in his back, but Hiccup was smiling. He remembered his first flight, and how terrified he'd been.

"It's alright" He yelled over his shoulder. "We'll be back at Dragon's Edge in no time."

Their flight was smooth, and after a few more minutes of hiding her face in Hiccup's back, Lissah pulled away and looked around. They rose higher with each stroke of Toothless's wings, but before long they were flying above the cliffs, and she could see miles in each direction. In 3 directions, there was nothing but ocean, but before them lay the green and brown and gray of Dragon's Edge. It was a beautiful island. Lissah could just make out a faint wisp of smoke on the other side of the island, and they flew in that direction.

After only twenty minutes, they had reached their apparent destination, as Toothless began a flawless descent to the wooden deck of the outpost. He landed smoothly, and Hiccup slid down to the planks in a seamless motion, then held his hand up to help her down.


	3. Chapter 3

_Disclaimer in Subject. A/N: Okay, so I see lots of folks are reading…I'd love to get an opinion. Positive, negative, whatever. Something to tell me if folks are liking what they're reading, or hating it. Suggestions on where to go? Pairings? Just started watching the series today on Netflix, so I don't know what's coming after Ep. 9…._

 _Chapter 3_

 _How gallant._ She thought, reaching toward him and allowing her thin frame to slide off the dragon and into his waiting arms. She stood about a foot shorter than he did. He steadied her on her feet before calling "Astrid! Fishlegs! Ruffnut!" _What is he talking about?_ She wondered, until three people came out of one of the buildings.

"What is it, Hiccup?" One of the girls that came stared at her rather curiously, while the other, and the boy, looked to Hiccup waiting for an answer. "

"Toothless found this girl at the bottom of the cliff…her name is Lissah, and she was shipwrecked.."

Toothless nudged her side, and she pulled her stick up under her arm so she could stand more steadily on her own as he moved away. "Hi." She said, holding up a hand in greeting.

Hiccup went around to the others. "This is Astrid." The blonde girl with tidy hair and lots of armor smiled, holding Hiccup's hand for a moment. _So they're together._ She thought, noting the girl's proprietary stance. "This is Fishlegs." He gestured to the chubby but kind of cute babyfaced guy.

"Hi." He waved shyly.

"And this is Ruffnut. Her brother's Tuffnut."

Astrid spoke sweetly. "Hello Lissah. Welcome to Dragon's Edge. The others, Snotlout and Tuffnut will be back soon. They've taken the Night Terrors out for some fishing.

 _Okay, I'm 13, not 2…._ Lissah thought, then berated herself. _It's not fair of you not to like her already..you don't even know her._ _She doesn't have to talk to me like I'm a little kid. Stop being sensitive.. Just tired…_ She stifled a yawn, but couldn't hide the tightening of her jaw.

Fishlegs smiled. "I can show you to a spare room if you'd like?"

Lissah frowned, then shrugged. "I guess…Fishlegs, right?"

"Yeah. My dragon is Meatlug." He pointed at a tubby little dragon who hovered over the deck a few feet away.

"Do you all have dragons?" Lissah asked, as Fishlegs started to lead the way along the planks toward the bigger structure, their "Main hall" area.

"Yes, we all do here. Though there are quite a few unconnected dragons, too."

 _Unconnected…might be neat to have my own dragon._ Lissah thought as she followed him, her crutch clinking on the wood beneath them as they made their way inside.

Once through the doors, he turned to the side and toward a doorway that led off from what appeared to be a meeting hall or main hall. "We each have our own place here, but we have a few "spare bedrooms" so to speak…they double as storage for some stuff, but they should be pretty comfortable, at least until you decide what you want to do.

"What I want to do? " Lissah asked.

"Yeah. Since you're not trained as a dragonrider, you'll have to go to Dragonrider training if you want to learn, which means going to Berk, or if you want, we can bring you….wherever it was you were going. Or, we could bring you back where you came from."

 _I can't stay here?_

Fishlegs pushed through the doorway, and into a corridor. The narrow hallway led to a series of rooms, and with a glance at her leg, he picked the first door they came to. "Here you are, it's a little small, but everything should be within easy reach.."

One glance told her how right he was. The room was smaller than the cave had been, but not uncomfortably small, especially considering she'd be on that crutch a while.

As if he sensed her thoughts "Do you want me to look at your ankle? I'm not a healer, but I have some experience with the Dragons' injuries."

"Um, sure." She replied, and moved into the room to sit on a wooden stool that rested near a desk. A window was shuttered above the desk and she leaned forward to open it before sitting down. A gust of fresh air came into the room and she took a deep breath of it before leaning the crutch against the desk.

He walked toward her, and gingerly lifted her leg up to rest on the edge of the desk where he could see it better in the light from the window. With some gentle prodding, and a few grimaces and winces on her part, he lowered it again. "It appears to be a sprain, and the swelling should go down soon, but I recommend you keep off it for a few weeks. Use the crutch…" He glanced at it. "I'll see Hiccup makes you a sturdier one."

"I don't want to be a bother." Lissah frowned. She wasn't sure what she wanted to do, but she didn't want to have to depend on anyone…least of all Hiccup. He was claimed, and Astrid had made that clear. Best to steer clear of him…not that she was really old enough to even think about love…

Fishlegs smiled, his hand resting on her shoulder briefly in a comforting gesture. "Don't worry. We'll have you back on your feet in no time.

"Thank you, for bringing me in here. Could you show me…um…where I could…" She hadn't relieved herself since she was awakened rather suddenly earlier that morning, and she was suddenly feeling the need to go, but she couldn't think of a way to say that politely.

"What do you need?" Fishlegs asked and then after a moment's thought "Oh, how inconsiderate of us… The privy is down the stairs at the end of the hall…." He trailed off. "Perhaps we'd better go back out to the others." He frowned, wondering if Meatlug could carry both of their weights down, or if she'd feel comfortable riding his dragon without him…Toothless was better suited to new riders, because his slender form allowed for a better seat.

When they arrived back outside, it was to Fishlegs' dismay that they found the others had all gone off in different directions. He glanced at her, and noticed she was getting fidgety. When he turned to call Meatlug, he noticed his dragon was gone too.

 _Gotta go, gotta go…_ Lissah thought desperately, while trying not to think about the urge too much. Suddenly she was in the soft but strong arms of a Viking, and he was dashing down the outer stairs to the ground level of the hall. She was so surprised she forgot about the urge to go long enough to reach the solid earth below, and when she was once again on her feet, she was standing outside a small building with holes around the upper parts of the walls and a door in the front. 

"Thank you." She said to him as she hobbled up and pulled the door open, relieved to find the privy quite like those she had grown up using… a plank with a hole and a wooden oval over it for a seat.

When she emerged a few minutes later, Fishlegs stood there looking quite uncomfortable. A blush lingered on his cheeks when she closed the door behind her. "Do you want me to help you back up?" He asked nervously.

"Where can we find something to eat…?" She asked in an attempt to change the subject. _Gods, how embarrassing.._ She thought to herself, blushing too. So close!

"Hey! Who's the new kid?" They both heard the whump whump of dragon wings, followed closely by a loud flutter of squawks and smaller wing beats as two more dragonriders arrived.

"Snotlout, Tuffnut..this is Lissah."

 _Oh Gods…what's that smell?_ "Hi.." She said softly, leaning on the crutch as they landed and the little dragons swarming around them dropped a large net full of fish.

"Great! Supper!" Fishlegs said.

Suddenly the air was full of large dragons coming in to land beside the two new arrivals, while the little dragons dispersed. Lissah watched it all with mixed emotions. It was awesome to see the little dragons swarm into the shape of a giant fish, and then fly off. And terrifying to see the air filled with half a dozen dragons big enough to make a snack of her.

Toothless, Meatlug and others started eating the fish from the net while Hiccup grabbed a basketful and set them to the side. The other dragons joined in and feasted, finishing the meal in moments. While they ate, Fishlegs stacked some logs across each other. Tuffnut speared several of the fish on a metal skewer, and Astrid brought out a bundle which she unwrapped to reveal some fruit, and biscuits.

A few moments later, Toothless blasted the logs, which lit and Tuffnut began roasting the fish over the flames.

Fishlegs brought over a stool, and motioned for Lissah to sit while the others prepared the meal.

After only a little while, they each had a fish, a biscuit, and half of a sweet fruit to eat.

"So, Lissah, what do you think of Dragons' Edge?" Asked Snotlout.

 _It's incredible. Terrifying. Fascinating. I want to go home. But I don't want to leave. I want my own dragon. I'm afraid I'll get eaten by one._ I don't really know.


	4. Chapter 4

Lissah woke the next day after sleeping the deep slumber of the exhausted. When she opened her eyes, it was to find a small long tailed lizard perched on the foot of her bed, watching her with curious eyes.

When she slid her foot out of the bed, it was tender, but did not seem to be as swollen as the day before. _Perhaps a few days of rest will leave it useable._ She thought as she stood, leaning heavily on the crutch and hopping to the end of the bed. "Hello Dragon." She said softly, reaching out to see if the dragon was friendly, at least. When it chirped, fluttered its wings and then nudged her hand, she concluded it must be. _I wonder what they call you._

She walked out of the room, and to her surprise, the little dragon followed, landing on her shoulder as she stepped into the hallway.

Nearby she heard one of the girls' voices. "We don't know who she is, where she came from…she's not like any Viking I've ever known."

Someone else replied "Just because she doesn't look like a Viking, doesn't mean she can't stay."

And another voice "But if she can't hold her own, we don't need the burden…"

The second voice "Who says she'll be a burden. She can learn to carry her own weight.."

The last voice again "You won't always be there to carry her up and down the stairs."

The first voice "We could use someone to do housekeeping.."

By now, Lissah had determined that the first voice was Ruffnut, who judging by her clothing the day before, Lissah was sure she didn't care for the more domestic aspects of life. The second voice was the soft voice of Fishlegs, and the last sounded like Astrid.

 _Unfortunately she doesn't seem to like me….at all._ With a deep breath, Lissah scuffed the bottom of her crutch on the floor, intentionally making a noise so they'd stop talking about her. _I hate needing this thing..but maybe in a few days.._ She thought as she hobbled forward. Just as she was about to walk into the room she heard "Where else is she gonna go?" from Astrid. _Indeed._

The room ahead of her fell silent as she walked in. "Good morning everyone!"

"Good afternoon, Lissah." Replied Fishlegs.

Lissah glanced around, then at an unshuttered window. "Wow, I'm sorry I slept so long."

Ruffnut flashed a quick smile. "Sleepyhead." Before she got up and walked out of the hall.

Fishlegs jumped up from the table. "Can I get you anything? Do you need something to eat? A drink?"

Lissah waved her hand. "If you can show me where to find that stuff, I can get it myself, thank you."

His hopeful expression seemed to fall immediately, as if he'd been looking forward to taking care of her. _But I'm not going to be someone's burden.._ Lissah thought, glancing at Astrid. "I don't want to keep anyone from their tasks…

Astrid rose and moved toward the door after Ruffnut. "There's a lull in activity right now, Hiccup's gone back to Berk to update Stoick on our most recent discoveries."

She left, leaving Lissah and Fishlegs alone.

He walked over towards her. "Let me show you where the kitchen is… we fix our own meals-if we eat something besides fish and fruit, but the Dragons do the fishing every day, so that's usually what we eat."

"I would think a meal of fish and fruit would get old fast." Lissah commented.

"We don't really have time to garden or farm. Sometimes we trade our info for cattle with the farmers on Berk, but not often, and when you split a sheep between all the riders and their dragons, it doesn't go far."

A/N: So this is a short chapter-probably more of a half- chapter…but I wanted to update. Got a little writer's block going on and I'm working overtime right now, so I'm pretty beat. Taking requests for where this story should go- what do you think about a Fishlegs/OC pairing? Yes? No? Or an Astrid/Lissah rivalry? Let me know in your review!


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